Gut health requires mastering this one skill
Photo by Callum Skelton on Unsplash
I grew up not knowing how to deal with my emotions other than through throwing tantrums. I was also often surrounded with people who made fun of other people who were expressive with their emotions (e.g. she's so sensitive).
So naturally, not having the tools to express my own feelings safely and without ridicule lead me to eye-roll at those who felt vulnerable enough to wear their hearts on their sleeve.
Not having the ability to express myself, coupled with my people-pleasing inner saboteur, also caused a lot of strain in some of my friendships and romantic relationships. Getting me to talk about my feelings was like pulling teeth.
It wasn't until during the past few years where I learned how to navigate through my emotional ups and downs and learning how to express them in healthy, non-aggressive ways.
Some golden nuggets about emotions that I now know and understand are:
➤ An emotion is a thought we have in our mind coupled with sensations or vibrations that happen in our body
➤ Emotions are a physiological result of our psychological state (i.e. our thoughts create our feelings)
➤ Aside from avoiding (through overeating, over drinking, gambling, etc.), expressing (through yelling, crying, breaking things, etc.) or resisting (silent treatment, shutting down, ignoring) an emotion, you can also just be with or sit in the feeling of it
➤ Verbalizing and locating where the vibrations happen in your body (i.e. I feel hotness in my face and tightness in my chest when I'm angry) can be a useful tool when sitting with the emotion
➤ The thought-feeling loop (thoughts create feelings and feelings create or perpetuate those thoughts) can be detrimental to our mental health and wellbeing when left unmanaged
The truth is that emotions are what make us human.
Emotions are beautiful, complex and useful. Taking the time to understand our emotions, judgement-free and with love, can go a long way in cultivating healthy relationships with ourself and others.
Jumpstart your gut health and achieve vitality by downloading my free guide here! If you’re ready to gain energy, clarity and high levels of serotonin, I’d love to help. Book your free Gut Check Sesh here and let’s make it happen!
